Analysing The Plot And Sub Plot Of A Dolls House By Henrik Ibsen

983 words - 4 pages

Analysing the Plot and Sub Plot of A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen

As another year goes by I am now writing a piece of coursework for AS
drama, this particular piece will be about a not so well known play
called ‘A dolls house, written by Henrik Ibsen. In particular I will
by studying carefully and analysing the plot and subplot of the play.
The play was wrote in the 1800’s and was first performed in Copenhagen
during the winter of 1879. Most of Ibsens plays were based around the
issues during that era, as was a dolls house covering forgery,
feminism, freedom, independence, love?, stereotypes, and duty all in
the main plot. The subplot covered issues like; loneliness, widowed,
manipulation, deception/secrets and the new woman. To convey the
issues there where two characters in the main plot, these were Nora
and Torvald (the husband and wife living in the “dolls house”. As the
story unravels we discover many different things but we also find out
that Nora is in every scene to show how she has adapted to living her
lifestyle and how she is slowly moving out of it and into another.
Torvald is also in most scenes but always seems to be in his office
hard at work trying to earn money for Nora and the family, as most
families would be in this century. Then there are two other characters
running the subplot these are Mrs Linde and Krogstad both of these
convey how Nora’s life could be if she were to separate from he
husband, Torvald, showing how hard it is to be a part of society. Mrs
Linde feels that Nora leads the perfect lifestyle with a happy family
where as Nora feels that Mrs Linde has the better lifestyle, being
free.

The features of the subplot are shown via the main plot, this is to
show a variety of problems that are going on throughout the play. This
airs the contrast of characters between Mrs Linde and Nora in ways of;
marriage and the materialistic views of each other highlighting yet
more topics. In addition to this as the play goes on Nora and Mrs
Linde are slowly reversing lifestyles and by the end of the play the
lifestyles are completely reversed. What’s more if Ibsen had just the
main plot without the subplot the play would not be as powerful as it
is and would probably miss out both sides of the argument. As the
Methvan Student Notes express

“While two plots are linked through a series of parallels, the subplot
detracts attention away from the main plot”.

As I keep going on about Nora developing over the acts I think, I
should describe what happens in each acts. Well firstly the play is
based on 3 acts (giving a total of 60 hours) which is unusual for a
play in those days, they were usually set on 6 acts which makes the
play stand out and is significant to how Nora’s life has changed over
a short period of time. It also creates a higher impact, short,
precise, hard-hitting and keeps the audiences...

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